Let the Game Begin!
by adrogoz
Summary: Four powerful beings meet to continue an eternal feud, but an eternity of battle and reincarnation has left them able to see the outcome of every strategy. To settle their feud, they conduct a tournament for beings across many worlds. Entrants chosen by readers
1. Too many times

Let the Game Begin!

"You finally made it then, did you?" said the old man in the hooded cloak. "I was beginning to worry no-one else was coming…

The heavy footfall of the black-armoured, crowned warrior was all but unheard amidst the lightning that struck around the mountain. He reached for a heavy spiked mace at his belt, but the old man raised a hand, an unearthly red glow emanating from his outstretched fingers. "You needn't resort to violence so soon, Conqueror", he said. "Too many of our meetings of late have ended in bloodshed…"

"Spare me the transparent farce of negotiation, Conjuror", said the Conqueror, his hand on the mace but not yet drawing it. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't simply crush you".

"Very well", said the Conjuror. "The reason you should not "simply crush me", as you say, is because we both know how things will end if you do".

The Conqueror paused. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it was true. No matter how this played out, if he made the first move…

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a battle cry from behind him. The Conqueror sighed, drawing the mace and turning in time to block a sword strike from a young man in a white tunic with a single iron pauldron protecting his shoulder.

"Give it up, boy!" snarled the Conqueror.

"Never!" shouted the young swordsman. "I will not rest until…"

He was interrupted as two circles of light appeared on the ground beneath him and the Conqueror, rooting their feet to the ground.

"Stay out of this", growled the Conqueror. "This boy and his irritating feud with me are none of your concern!"

"If only that were the case", said the Conjuror. "Look closely at his sword and tell me if it looks familiar…"

The Conqueror looked at the sword and saw a marking on the hilt. "Warrior", he said angrily. "I should have known".

"Quite", said a voice. Out from behind one of the many pillars surrounding the area stepped a man dressed in a colourful ensemble that looked like that of a jester or harlequin. "This boy is actually the latest incarnation of our dear old friend the Warrior – not that he remembers his past lives yet. It looks like the gang's all here".

"Trickster", said the Conqueror. "You planned all this didn't you…"

"Not all of it", said the Trickster with a smirk. "I only helped things along…"

"What are you talking about?" demanded the boy, swiping uselessly with his sword. On the fifth swing, the blade glowed blue, slicing through an invisible barrier and freeing him from the Conjuror's spell.

"So, it's starting to come back to you, is it?" said the Trickster. "You remembered the powers of your sword, for one thing".

New memories rushed to the surface of the Warrior's mind. Countless lifetimes, and in every one, he had the same sword, the same shield, and the same three beings in thousands of forms, sometimes enemies, sometimes allies. In some, he remembered all his past lives before the rest. In some, he never remembered them at all.

"I remember… other lives…" began the Warrior. "But even so…"

From nowhere, the Trickster pulled a large red kiteshield with an emblem resembling a golden dragon and threw it to the no-realised Warrior.

"You had his shield and you simply gave it back to him?" said the Conqueror, shocked.

"We've done this so many times", said the Trickster. "So many, in fact, that none of us can make the first move. As Conjuror already so eloquently said, we know what will happen, simply because it has already happened so many times before".

He drew a shining silver pistol and pointed it at the Conqueror. "For example, if I were to shoot the Conqueror right here and now, it would leave cracks in his armour that would kill him on a second shot, a fact I would never get to enjoy because he could have my head off before I could fire a second shot. Later on, one of the others would take advantage of this weakness and finish him off, only to leave the conclusion to Warrior versus Conjuror, but it serves me no advantage because I'm already dead by this stage. I could shoot the Warrior or Conjuror instead, or wait for a more opportune moment, but any plan I try will have at least one of you able to counter it. And given you've seen it all before any opportunity to thwart my plans will be taken as soon as it's available. Before we all have our memories back, this game is perfectly winnable. But after we're all here, all knowing our place in this eternal feud…"

"That is the way of things", said the Conjuror. "But it seems it cannot be helped. As in every life before, we all have our personal grudges to settle in this life. And how else can we settle them?"

"I propose we do things a little differently this time", said the Trickster. "Play a different game that we don't all know the outcome of…"

"What kind of "game"?" asked the Conqueror.

"Simply put, we each select sixteen beings remembered from our countless previous incarnations, and have them compete in a grand tournament", said the Trickster. "The winner will be granted one wish, while whichever one of us summoned them can do what he wishes with the souls of the other three. Cast them into the void to be born again, destroy them, consume them… whatever you wish…"

"It cannot be as simple as that", said the Conjuror. "Under those conditions, the Warrior is at a distinct disadvantage, as his skills cannot be put to use in such a tournament".

"Quite right", said the Trickster, throwing each of them a small bundle of cards. "Each of these cards grants their user an opportunity to interact with this tournament once. Two of them correspond to each of our two recurring items; Warrior's Sword and Shield, Conqueror's crown and armour, Conjuror's staff and cauldron and my own pistol and deck of cards – or at least, the one card I have left after giving you the rest. Using these cards will allow you to lend one of your tools to one of your combatants. The third card of each set allows you to pry one combatant from an adversary – from that point on, that combatant shall be treated as yours, and victory will go to you if they win the tournament. Fourth is a card that allows you to take direct control of one of these combatants, possessing them. Regardless of this card's use, winning the tournament in the body of another still grants victory to the one who summoned them, so it is perhaps best used on your own choices. And finally, the fifth card grants its user the opportunity to rearrange the tournament battles, swapping two sets of opponents".

"I'll accept those terms", said the Conqueror. He had some good ideas who to summon already.

"I shall also accept", said the Conjuror. "At least your potential trickery is on the table where I can see it this time.

"Fine by me", said the Warrior.

Trickster smirked. "If that's the case, let the game begin!"

_**And that's the premise in a nutshell.**_

_**This story will feature many characters from various series. However, like in another story of mine, the combatants were chosen by the readers. **_

_**Apologies if you wanted to submit anyone, but the roster is now full. I did however receive a submission from one person who clearly didn't read the "four characters only rule", so I will allow anyone who still wants some input to choose from amongst their character choices. The options are Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach), Monkey D Luffy (One Piece), Tony Tony Chopper _**(One Piece), Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail), Orochimaru (Naruto), Batman (DC comics) and Delsin Rowe (inFamous: Second Son)**_**_

_**I'd also like to apologise in advance to the people who chose literally half the characters. SOMEONE'S got to go out in the first round...**_


	2. Round 1 Part 1

_**The full roster is now in. There are some very interesting choices in there, I have to say. Glad to see a lot of characters I already know and enjoy writing, as well as some less familiar characters I can look into (I found out about a lot of great series thanks to Instruments, so the same could be true here…). My beta-reader has gotten back to me about Instruments now and the Psychic Jinjuuriki sequel will be up soon, so I hope I'll be able to update all three of these stories frequently. I have exams coming up at the end of May, so don't expect too many updates around then, but after that I should have plenty of free time. Anyway, on with the story!**_

"Welcome back, everyone", said the Trickster, after the four reconvened. It had been a week since they had agreed to the Trickster's suggestion of holding a tournament. In that time, the Conqueror had had his kingdom carve out the huge arena on the side of the mountain they now stood in, and the Conjuror had used his cauldron to enact a spell that would summon the various champions from their home worlds without anyone, apart from the champions themselves and the beings who summoned them, knowing who had called for their summoning (the Trickster had been very particular about that point). "I trust we're all ready for this tournament?"

"Let's get on with it", grumbled the Conjuror.

"Regretting our decisions already, are we?" said the Trickster.

"Nothing of the sort", said the Conjuror. "I just don't care for any more of your theatrics"

Conqueror looked across the arena from the high spectator box he and the others had found themselves in. The others had to admit, it was an impressive battleground, and it was almost impossible to believe it had been completed in under a week. Around the edge, the nobles of his kingdom watched from spectator boxes, not knowing what to expect when their king had announced this tournament between beings from other worlds. One spectator boxes was left empty for those who had finished their rounds to watch the ongoing battles. The arena stretched out almost 400 metres across, with a line of pillars down each side. Many of the spectators (and especially the workmen who had engaged in its construction) had wondered why the arena had needed to be this huge, but the Conqueror had insisted that this size was necessary. The audience had at least been supplied with efficient spyglasses that allowed them to see what was going on in the middle of the arena.

He stood up to make an announcement, his voice somehow carrying across the entire arena despite its massive size.

"LET THE FIRST ROUND BEGIN!"

Immediately, two spheres of light lit up in the arena, before fading to reveal the first two competitors.

At one side of the arena stood a small purple dragon with yellow horns and small yellow wings.

"Wonder who my first opponent is…", he said, looking across the arena to see a well-built man with crazy black hair in an orange gi.

"Hi there!" he said. "My name's Goku. Looks like you're my first opponent".

"Spyro", introduced the dragon.

"Are you ready?" asked Goku.

Spyro charged, head down, toward his opponent, but Goku vanished before the young dragon could reach him.

_He's fast_, thought Spyro in amazement. _I didn't even see him move…_

He looked round just in time to see Goku literally flying toward him, and leapt back just in time to dodge a kick. Spyro breathed out a wave of fire from his mouth that engulfed Goku, but it had little to no effect on him. Changing his plan, Spyro blocked a punch with his wings before letting out another blast from his mouth. This time, though, his breath took the form of an icy wave of cold. An icy shell began to form around Goku, holding him in place for the time being as Spyro charged at him again, shattering the ice and knocking Goku back a few steps, but if the orange-clad man had been harmed at all, he did a very good job not showing it.

Energy glowed blue between Goku's hands as he charged an attack. Spyro prepared himself, channelling his chi to his wings as the attack was released.

"KAMEHAMEHA!" shouted Goku, firing a huge blue beam from his hands. Spyro shielded himself with his wings, splitting the beam in two as the energy was deflected around him.

_That took a lot more energy than usual_, thought Spyro. _If he tries that again, I'm not sure how my guard will hold up._

The Conqueror watched the fight bemusedly. The dragon was putting up a better fight than he expected, but he knew the Saiyan was capable of more than he had shown.

As the beam faded, Goku flew in for another attack, but Spyro let out a huge shockwave of energy that knocked Goku back. Landing on his feet, Goku vanished again. Spyro spun round, this time expecting a highspeed attack, and leapt into the air at just the right moment to dodge a punch from Goku. Using this moment of surprise, Spyro dived headfirst onto Goku from above, the unexpected attack sending him stumbling forward a few steps before Spyro tumbled to the ground.

Goku recovered quicker than Spyro had anticipated, appearing next to Spyro and kicking him through the air. Spyro recovered in mid-air, gliding out of the way as Goku flew up nearby and tried to launch another attack, but Goku flew round in front of the small dragon before he could react and slammed him toward the ground with both hands. Spyro hit the ground hard, leaving a small crater in the arena floor. As Goku reappeared opposite him, Spyro took a chunk of rubble about the size of a fist into his mouth. Goku didn't seem to notice.

As the Saiyan flew in for another attack, Spyro spat the rock at him. Caught by surprise again, Goku was nearly knocked off his feet as the rock hit him in the head. Spyro took this chance to blast Goku with another wave of ice, but he had barely frozen his feet to the ground before Goku began powering up, his energy thawing the ice. The sheer power surrounding Goku sent Spyro flying, landing about twenty feet from Goku. As Goku began charging another Kamehameha, Spyro channelled his own power into a ball of energy in front of him. As the energy sphere met Goku's beam, the beam was initially stopped by Spyro's energy sphere. But then Goku's power began to force the sphere back, before breaking through it entirely and blasting Spyro into submission.

"AND THE WINNER IS… GOKU!"

As the crowd cheered, Goku reached out a hand to help Spyro up. "That was a good fight!" he said cheerily.

"Thanks", said Spyro, struggling to his feet.

_Kinda got the feeling you were holding back a lot_, he thought.

As the round ended, a huge spectral hourglass appeared. Spyro and Goku made their way to a currently-empty set of seats at one side of the arena.

In the highest stand, the Warrior sighed quietly. It appeared his first champion had fallen already. Spyro was a strong fighter despite his small size, but he seemed to be no match for Goku, who, he suspected, must have been summoned by the Conqueror or Conjuror. Though he was glad Spyro hadn't come to too much harm. He suspected the others to have summoned some truly merciless fighters who wouldn't hesitate to kill their opponents…

As the sands of the hourglass ran out, the illusory timepiece faded from view again, two more spheres flaring into view. As they faded, the next two champions were revealed. On one side of the arena stood a being in a bulky suit of futuristic white space armour carrying a laser pistol. All that was visible of him was a strange head resembling an earthworm with large eyes and a mouth.

On the other side of the arena, a boy in a yellow and black polo shirt and black shorts stood awkwardly, trying to remember how the strange dream-person had managed to convince him that engaging in a battle tournament was a good idea.

He had no time to think about it as a laser blast narrowly missed his left ear. He ran for cover, ducking behind a pillar.

"Whoever chose this pathetic child clearly wasn't thinking straight", said the Conqueror, watching bemusedly as the boy ran from pillar to pillar, dodging lasers. "If he has any useful powers or skills, he appears too cowardly to use them. And I certainly hope that is the case, because if he doesn't, I would be inclined to believe his patron wasn't thinking at all!"

In the midst of the Conqueror's mockery of the hapless boy, the Warrior drew a card from a pouch at his waist and recited the incantation needed to activate it under his breath. Only the Trickster saw him, grinning but saying nothing.

This fight just got interesting.

One of the interesting side effects of the spell that the Conjuror had used to summon the champions was that it allowed the one who had called for their summoning to contact them in a vision before the summoning occurred. Each champion had been told in advance that they would soon be summoned and why they had chosen them, and most of the champions took this opportunity to prepare themselves for the event to come.

Or, at least, those who hadn't simply passed the encounter off as a dream. Sadly, Charlie Brown was not amongst those who had believed this experience. As he approached another pillar, he remembered his meeting with the Warrior three days ago…

"_This tournament will be filled with not only great heroes, but insidious evil-doers as well", said the Warrior. "Whilst I have chosen to entrust my soul only to those I know will use their reward for good, I doubt the others will have such aims"._

"_But why me?" asked Charlie Brown. "Surely there are enough people out there who would wish for a good cause who can also put up a good fight?"_

"_That is true", said the Warrior. "There are many out there who would be far more sensible choices, rationally thinking. But one can't just choose the right path with their head"_

"_But what am I…" began Charlie Brown, but he was cut off._

"_Do not worry about your lack of power" said the warrior. "When the time comes…"_

Charlie Brown ran out toward the next pillar only to find that he had reached the end of the row. The worm-headed being grabbed the top of his head and pulled upwards, revealing nothing but a long, wiggly tail…

He wasn't a worm-headed being at all. He was, in fact, a worm.

The worm's suit swung him like a whip, his tail wrapping around Charlie Brown's hand, yanking him aside and to the ground in front of the suit as it put its "head" back in, pointing the gun with the other hand…

"…_I will provide you with the greatest defence I possess"_

And just at that moment, there was a flash like thunder, and a great red kiteshield appeared between Charlie Brown and the gun.

The bolt from the gun ricocheted off the shield and hit the worm in the head, blasting him out of the armour and knocking him unconscious.

"THE WINNER IS… CHARLIE BROWN!"

Charlie Brown looked up from behind the shield barely believing what he was hearing. He had won? But how?

_What did you have to go and WIN for?, _he thought to himself. _Now they're going to expect you to compete in the next round!_

He wondered for a moment whether he could take the worm's gun. Now that he had been eliminated, he wasn't going to need it, and Charlie Brown could do with all the help he could get. He cautiously reached for it and, when no objections came, he quickly pocketed it before heading over to the challenger spectator stands with Spyro and Goku. Two armoured men came and carried Jim over there as well.

In the high box, Conqueror had started laughing, and seemed to be having trouble stopping.

"That boy was one of YOUR champions, Warrior?!" he said amidst laughing. "What were you thinking giving someone like THAT your shield?!"

"I have faith in him", said the Warrior resolutely, which only made the Conqueror laugh even harder.

"I can only feel sorry for whoever chose the Earthworm", said Conqueror. "By all accounts the better fighter, bested only by your interference and dumb luck!"

The trickster only smiled. He had summoned the worm known as Jim as an easily-manipulated pawn to scout out enemy talents. Not one of his team was an obvious choice, save perhaps the super-speed hedgehog, but this boy was an odder choice than even he would dare risk. What was the Warrior up to?

He eyed the arena as the next two challengers appeared in the arena; on one side a silver-armoured figure in a green hood, on the other a man in a long brown coat carrying a bo staff. This game was going to be even more fun than he had anticipated.


	3. Round 1 Part 2

_**This will be the last chapter I post until early June. I have exams coming up and will be focussed on revising for them. After they're over, on the other hand, is another story entirely! I plan, not overambitiously I should hope, to post one new chapter every weekday from the 3**__**rd**__** of June on. And I'll be starting another new story around that time too, so I plan to assign my various stories to specific weekdays. **_

_**That's right, weekly updates on all my stories. Even Marvel vs Jump! I suddenly have ideas for it again.**_

_**I'd like to take the time to thank Tigerlover16, without whose help I probably would still be skirting round the first fight which I was having trouble starting.**_

Even in spite of the arenas questionably gargantuan size, the roar of the crowd still carried to the centre of the stage where the new competitors stood ready for battle.

The man in the brown overcoat stood calm and collected, flickering through a deck of cards. The man wore a pink shirt under his coat and carried a bo staff, attached to his hip by a strap on his jeans. He had a handsome face, with a smile that made the women swoon. But it was his eyes that drew the most attention, solid red with black pupils, and in the right light they seemed to glow. On first impression, the man known as Gambit seemed like a nice guy, a little shady perhaps with an air of ambiguity about him, but all around friendly and likeable, with a gentleman's charm.

His opponent struck a completely different vibe. Encased from head to toe in solid silver armour and draped in a regal green cloak that ended in a hood, this man was frightening beyond belief. He stood with his arms crossed, displaying himself with all the dignity and refinement you would expect from a noble king. He wore a metal mask with three indents, one around his mouth so that he could speak (though you couldn't tell he had a mouth, it was hidden in shadow) and two for his eyes... those eyes. It was a test of character just to look into them, filled with such deep hatred and greed, they were the eyes that you would expect to find on a demon rather than a man. Perhaps he was a demon, everything about him seemed evil. Even his name struck fear into the bravest of hearts: Doctor Doom.

As the crowds cheered and jeered with anticipation, the Warrior, the Conjurer, The Conqueror and the Trickster watched from the highest stand. While the Trickster cackled in anticipation, and the Conjurer and Conqueror tried to remain stoic, the Warrior took due note of Doom. With a frown and a scoff, the Warrior looked between him and Gambit, who he focused on for a minute longer. It was easy to tell from the audiences reactions that the latter was the preferred fighter. And for the sake of all that was holy, the Warrior silently prayed for his victory.

Back on the ground, Gambit pocketed all but five of his playing cards and looked over at Doom, giving the maniacal dictator a mock bow and a cheeky smile.

"It is a pleasure, monsieur Doom" Gambit said, in a thick Cajun accent. He looked up from his false bow and smiled wider "'Tis not every day a man has the chance to do battle with a king"

Doom was silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing at the Cajun. It was shocking how much of a difference such a minor action made, he looked even more formidable now.

"Savour the moment while you can, X-man" Doctor Doom began, in a regal voice with an indistinguishable European accent that commanded ones complete and utter respect "I have been observing the exploits of your team for quite some time, I know all of your strengths and weaknesses. And while you may pose a threat to many a lesser man, know that to Doom you amount to nothing more than a mere insect"

For a moment Gambit's suave expression wavered, but only for a moment. He looked over the playing cards in his hands and smirked deviously.

"Well, we'll just see about that" He said, sounding and looking quite confident. It was a farce of course. Gambit wasn't stupid, he knew exactly what he was up against here, many a more experienced hero than him had fallen at Doctor Doom's hands and only the best of them usually lived to tell the tale. If Gambit wanted any chance of winning this fight, he would have to be on his wits.

It was kind of funny, he thought to himself. When he had been approached with the offer to enter this tournament, the thought that he'd be fighting a super villain dictator never occurred to him. He just thought this might be fun, a refreshing break from the day-to-day struggle for mutant rights and such. And having a wish granted for him sounded nice, he had already put a lot of thought into what he wanted. He wasn't so arrogant to think that he'd actually get it, but certainly he couldn't let the wish go to Doom. Whatever happened afterwards, Gambit had to make sure Doctor Doom never got past this first round.

There was a moment's pause, punctuated only by the continued roar of the crowd. The two opponents waited for an announcement for them to begin the battle. When none came, Gambit realized he'd have to start things off himself.

"Right then..." He said, tightening his grip on the cards, which began to glow with a strange purple energy "Shall we dance?"

By way of an answer, Doom raised a hand, glowing before firing a huge beam of energy at his opponent.

In the audience box, Charlie Brown almost jumped out of his seat. Doom's lasers made the pistol Jim had been using against him seem downright puny.

Gambit, however, was unfazed, easily dodging the beam before throwing a hand of the glowing cards at Doom, but all of them hit a transparent blue sphere around him and exploded harmlessly.

"Is that all you can manage?" said Doom. "Predictable fireworks like those can only get you so far…"

Undeterred, Gambit ran towards Doom, vaulting from his staff just before he reached him. As he passed over Doom's head, he threw out more glowing cards, landing in a ring around the edge of Doom's forcefield, before landing atop a pillar on Doom's other side. Again the cards exploded around him, leaving him unharmed. "My turn", he said, stepping out of the cloud of dust from the explosions…

…only to see the pillar Gambit had been standing on glowing, mere moments before it detonated.

Gambit landed just outside the blast radius of the pillar he had just leapt off. The cards he had thrown around Doom's forcefield, intended to look like an attempt to throw his opponent off balance and disrupt his forcefield by breaking the ground beneath him had worked wonders in disguising his real plan of charging the pillar to explode and giving him the time to pull it off. He doubted this would be enough to defeat Doom in itself, but the damages to his armour would probably be enough to give Gambit a fighting chance of defeating him…

Seeing something in the corner of his eye, Gambit leapt back just in time to dodge a cluster of missiles aimed at him, the explosions destroying a long strip across the middle of the arena. He barely had time to duck under an electrically-charge punch from Doom the moment he landed. However Doom had managed to recover from the explosion so quickly, attacking over close range like this had been a crucial error. Gambit took the opportunity to grab Doom's armoured leg, charging it before dodging to the side from another attack and charging his shoulder plate as well. Finally, he hit Doom with his staff, accelerated with his powers, sending him flying back almost to the other side of the arena before his armour suddenly exploded.

Gambit looked around, not convinced by the opponent he just defeated. Now that he had time to think about it, Doom wouldn't have played the battle so safe at the start only to charge in recklessly after taking a hit, and for someone who claimed to know his strengths and weaknesses, he found it unlikely Doom would take the fight into close quarters when he had every opportunity to keep him at a distance.

He felt a hand grab his shoulder as he was suddenly hit with a powerful surge of electricity. He cried out in pain before Doom kicked him to the ground, unconscious.

"THE WINNER IS… DOCTOR DOOM!"

"You fought better than I expected", said Doctor Doom. "But your fate was decided the moment you were summoned for this tournament, the moment Doom became your opponent".

He raised a hand to finish his opponent off, but suddenly his arm was caught in another's grip. Doom looked round at the stranger who had grabbed his hand.

"You already have your victory", said Goku. "I won't let you kill him while he's defenceless like this".

Doom glared at the Saiyan for a few seconds, before lowering his hand. "So be it", he said, striding away towards the second empty spectator stand opposite Goku and the others. "Pray that I am as merciful when you face me later in this tournament…"

As Goku returned to his seat and Gambit was carried out of the arena, Charlie Brown felt a sense of unrelenting dread. He could be pitted against this Doom person next round. If Gambit was no match for this person, what chance did he have? And what if Goku wasn't fast enough to save him like he did the other man?

Speaking of Goku, he had a newfound respect for the Saiyan. If the information Goku had gotten before the tournament was anything like that which he had gotten, Goku had no guarantee that stepping into the ring and intervening as he had wouldn't get him disqualified immediately, but he had stepped in nonetheless.

As soon as Goku and Doom were seated, the next two challengers appeared. On Doctor Doom's side of the arena, a green-skinned man in a purple hooded robe and gloves was summoned, holding some kind of winged board. His ears and nose were pointed. At the other side, a teenage boy in a red shirt, blue shorts and a round straw hat appeared, grinning widely. The two newcomers were each immediately recognised by someone in the competitors' stands.

"Is that…" began Goku, picking up a spyglass to take a closer look. "It is! Hey Luffy, over here!"

The boy looked round. "Goku? You're in this tournament too?! This is going to be so cool!"

"I wonder if we'll see anyone else from the J-festival here" said Goku, not noticing Spyro and Charlie Brown exchanging confused looks.

"I sure hope so!" said Luffy. "It'd be awesome to see Toriko or Seiya or Naruto again, or…"

"Keep your eyes on the fight Luffy!" shouted Goku. Luffy looked back just in time to narrowly dodge a large explosion as the goblin-like flew overhead on the winged board, which turned out to be some kind of glider. He threw another orange globe toward Luffy, who reached up toward the edge of the arena, swinging himself out of the way.

"Was it just my imagination or did his arm just get longer?" asked Spyro. It was true that the stadium wall was around nine or ten feet tall, and Luffy couldn't possibly have reached it otherwise…

"You haven't seen anything yet", said Goku. "That Namekian's in for a surprise…"

As the goblin swooped down for another attack, Luffy's arm stretched back at least twenty feet behind him.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" shouted Luffy as his fist sprang back forward, hitting the man in the face and knocking him to the ground. His glider flew away, out of the arena.

On the other side of the stadium, Doctor Doom pondered over the battle. He was certain Norman Osborn would be able to handle this young upstart, but it interested him that another with Reed Richards' powers would appear so early in the tournament. This boy may be worth looking into, assuming the Green Goblin didn't kill him. Either way, his body could be useful to study…

"You certainly pack a punch", cackled the Goblin as he got back to his feet. "But the Green Goblin doesn't go down so easily".

He reached for something else out of a shoulder bag, but before he could take the new weapon out, Luffy was right next to him, about to punch him in the face again. The goblin dodged the attack before grabbing Luffy by the neck and activating the deadly electrical charges in his gloves, but the electricity seemed to have no effect on the pirate whatsoever.

"That won't work", said Luffy. "'Cause I'm made of rubber!"

The Goblin only laughed again, reaching up and catching his glider as it flew past and swinging round on top of it. Luffy's arm stretched out again as he reached for the glider, but the Green Goblin caught his wrist and swung him up into the air before flying up toward him, blades emerging from the front of the glider. Luffy barely managed to spin himself around in mid-air to avoid being impaled, but as he flew past, the Goblin beat him to the ground with one hand with more force than Luffy had expected. As Luffy hit the ground, the Goblin threw a handful of tiny jack-o-lanterns down around him. Before Luffy could even get back to his feet, they detonated all around him in an enormous explosion.

"Wow, those things pack more of a punch than I expected", said Luffy, getting back to his feet, the smoke and flames dying down around the same time as the Green Goblin's laughter. "What are those anyway?" He looked across the arena at his opponent properly for the first time and jumped. "You're… you're a goblin! That's so cool!"

"You're a lot more durable than I would have expected", said the Green Goblin, regaining his composure quickly as he walked over to Luffy. He swung a punch at Luffy, but Luffy caught his arm.

"Gum-gum…" began Luffy, his arm stretching back as the Green Goblin pulled his arm free. As his glider flew over to him, the goblin jumped in time to land on it.

"PISTOL!" shouted Luffy, his fist snapping back and hitting the glider, the force of his punch almost tearing the metal board in two. The Green Goblin quickly leapt off the ruined glider towards the rubber man, but Luffy was too quick.

"GATLING GUN!" he added, launching a barrage of punches at blinding speed. The impacts sent the Goblin flying back and crashing into one of the few remaining pillars as his mask disintegrated.

"Hey, you're not really a goblin at all!" said Luffy, looking disappointed as the Green Goblin tried to struggle back to his feet, but collapsed.

"AND THE WINNER IS… MONKEY D. LUFFY!"

_Against someone like this, it will be easier to win this tournament from outside it… _thought Norman Osborn, feigning unconsciousness. He remembered the item he had in his pocket. The Trickster hadn't been too specific in describing how it worked, but he was sure what he had in mind would be within its capabilities…

There was more than one way to win this thing…


	4. Round 1 Part 3

_**I may have been hasty in saying I would write one chapter of each story per week over the summer. A lot more seems to be going on than I thought and I severely overestimated the amount of writing time I'd have. Still, I have now FINALLY managed to get round to writing another chapter, so enjoy!**_

The Green Goblin continued his act while two of the Conqueror's soldiers carried him out of the arena. Luffy ran over to the stands and sprang into the seat beside Goku as two more competitors appeared.

On one side of the arena stood a young man in a long white coat, white trousers and a white headband, his orange hair in a pompadour. Though he looked to be around the same age as Luffy, he was taller and significantly more well-built.

His opponent was a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, dressed in a brown jacket and darker brown waistcoat.

The Conqueror kept his eyes on the latter, stroking his chin in thought.

"Sirius Black, I presume?" he said. "Interesting choice. I half expected another combatant from that realm, but even so..."

Unable to read from the expressions of his opponents, he went on. "Of course, he would be no match for one who resides among my team…"

"So you're my first opponent?" said the other combatant.

"Yeah, that's right" said his opponent. "My name's Kuwabara, and don't you forget it".

Sirius hesitated for a moment before he spoke. "Sirius Black", he said. Not like anyone knew him as a wanted criminal here, and even if someone appeared who did, they could hardly cart him back to Azkaban…

Sirius took out what appeared to be a short, straight stick. "Stupefy!" he shouted, a blast of red light shooting from the stick. Kuwabara's hand began to glow, until a long sword seemingly made of green light formed in his hand. With the sword, he made short work of Sirius's spell, the ethereal sword cutting the red blast in half.

Kuwabara smirked. "My Spirit Sword can handle those puny little shots easy! Try someth…" he began, but he stopped when Sirius simply vanished without a trace

"Hey, w- where'd you go?" said Kuwabara, looking around the arena for his opponent. He barely managed to duck in time to dodge a yellow blast. Turning round, he caught another glance of his opponent before another spell came flying his way. He cut through it with his sword, but three more were already on their way toward him. Kuwabara grinned, his sword becoming wider until it was more of a large paddle or racket. He blocked all three spells and batted them back towards their source.

"Protego!" said Sirius, a domed transparent shield forming in front of him. The jinxes hit his shield and dissipated harmlessly, but Kuwabara had already taken the chance to close the distance between them, and he slashed through Sirius's Shielding Charm with ease.

Sirius barely managed to dodge to the side, out of the way of Kuwabara's overhead slash. At this range, Kuwabara wouldn't have time or space to slash his sword. If he wanted to win this, Sirius would have to make this chance count. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Kuwabara's arms sprung straight to his sides while his legs went straight and locked together. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief.

_I can't move! What am I supposed to do now! I can't go out in the first round…_

_**Idiot**_, said another voice in Kuwabara's head. _**If you're not going to make a move, I'll take over…**_

In a split-second, the look in Kuwabara's eyes had changed from panic to cold analysis.

"Stupefy", commanded Sirius, firing another red blast at Kuwabara, but a cage formed around him, composed of what looked to be less solid, yellow versions of his Spirit Sword. Before Sirius could cast another spell, another yellow energy blade extended rapidly from the surface of the cage, forcing him to dodge out of the way as it almost impaled him. As the blade retracted, the cage also faded until only one blade remained, solidifying into the green blade Kuwabara had used. This green blade extended back, cutting into his hand.

"It seems this sword can cut your magic even after you've cast it", said Kuwabara, though his tone was now more cold. _**Now that I'm free, I'll deal with our mutual opponent. Sirius Black… back then, I would already have had all I needed to get rid of him by this point. But Kuwabara's powers should be enough…**_

Kuwabara's sword extended to around twenty feet before he slashed out over a wide area, but Sirius vanished before the blade reached him.

"So it's teleportation, not just invisibility", said Kuwabara, before turning round and blocking another spell. "Thought so".

The energy sword in Kuwabara's hand retracted before a second blade appeared in his other hand.

Neither made a move for a moment.

Then Kuwabara threw his sword.

In the split-second that followed, Sirius dodged to the side to avoid the flying sword, right into the path of Kuwabara, who was closing in on him from the other side. In one slash, Sirius' wand was split in two and the wizard was thrown to the ground.

"It looks like I've won, Sirius Black", said Kuwabara, raising his sword to strike down on the unarmed Sirius. "And now…"

Suddenly, Kuwabara fell to his knees, clutching his head.

_**What are you doing?! **_Shouted the voice in Kuwabara's head. _**We have this match won! One move and…**_

"I ain't killing anyone", said Kuwabara, struggling to his feet. "The only reason I'm entering this damn tournament…"

"…is to get you out of my head!"

The Conjuror rose from his seat, a card in one hand. "I call for a match swap", he announced.

Kuwabara and Sirius looked up at the highest spectator box, unsure of what they were supposed to do next.

"Both combatants, proceed to the competitor's stand", announced Conqueror glumly. He had been looking forward to seeing how this worked out. "You will be called on later for an additional match each".

"Looks like you could use a few lessons in Occlumency", said Sirius as he and Kuwabara made their way to the spectator's stands.

"Occlu-what?" asked Kuwabara. "What the hell's that?"

"Protection for your mind", said Sirius. "Who or what is that anyway?"

"I don't know", said Kuwabara. "The only name he ever gives me is Kira…"

"I'm guessing Black was your choice?" the Warrior asked, looking at the Conjuror.

Conjuror nodded to himself, thinking how he could go about getting Sirius' wand fixed between rounds….

"In any case, let's just start Round Six already", said the Conqueror.

The first combatant to appear was a short, portly, moustached man wearing a red shirt and hat, blue overalls and white gloves. On his hat was a white circle with a red letter M in it. He didn't look like much of a fighter, but something about him gave the feeling he was far more competent than he appeared…

His opponent looked a lot more suited to a fighting tournament. His entire body from head to toe was covered by a red and blue outfit with a spider web pattern over it, with a spider symbol on his chest. Even his eyes were hidden behind the pupilless white "eyes" of the suit.

The two combatants' eyes wandered across the arena, scanning the terrain and taking in the roar of the crowd before looking directly at one another. The plumber gave his opponent a casual smile, as if to say there was no hard feelings. The costumed man's reaction was harder to judge given the mask, but his body language suggested the feeling was mutual.

"So... what's your name?" The Spider themed individual asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"I'm-a Mario, nice to meet you" The plumber replied, speaking in an accent that was unmistakably Italian, but with a hint of Brooklyn in there somewhere.

"Spider-Man, and right back at you" Spider-Man replied in a friendly tone, then after looking around thoughtfully he added "Would you believe this isn't the first time I've been recruited by some mysterious guy with great powers to fight people?"

"Really? Me too" Mario replied with some amusement.

"Get out"

"No, really, and it was-a to fight in a tournament just-a like this. Except that the host was a giant hand" Mario said, laughing at the memories.

"Giant hand huh? That's nothing, the guy who abducted me was a cosmic super being from another dimension who made all the heroes in New York and our villains fight each other on an alien world... and boy, I just realized how weird my life has become" Spider-Man chuckled.

Mario shrugged "That's-a hero life for you. Um, you are a hero, right?"

"No, I'm the most famous luchadore in all of Mexico" Spider-Man replied in a faux Hispanic accent while doing stretches. Mario just raised an eyebrow, not sure if he was joking or being dead serious. Frankly with that outfit, Mario thought either option was viable.

Before either could persue the conversation any further, the bell suddenly rang to signal the beginning of the match.  
Mario took a yellow and red flower from a pocket, his outfit suddenly changing colour to white and red.

Mario made the first move, running toward Spider-man and jumping as he got close. Spider-man dodged to the side as Mario came down hard on the ground where he had previously been standing. Spider-Man shot a ball of webbing from each of his wrists at Mario. The first was aimed at his feet, which Mario simply jumped over, but the second was aimed higher up and Mario only narrowly dodged the attack, twisting round in mid-air. Spider-man leapt forward to engage Mario hand-to hand. Mario motioned forward with his hand, a fireball shooting from his hand, but Spider-man dodged the attack with ease, spinning round into a punch that almost toppled the plumber. Mario flipped over and landed on his feet, skidding to a halt. His outfit changed back to its usual red and blue.

Taking a feather from one pocket, Mario began to glow for a second. When the glow faded, he was wearing a yellow cape in addition to his usual overalls. He swished the cape in front of him, blowing away a strand of web Spider-man had fired at him, then ran toward Spider-man in what appeared to be a reckless head-on charge. About five feet from Spider-man he grabbed the edges of the cape and spread it wide, catching the wind and sending him gliding over Spider-man's head. As he wheeled round in mid-air, Spider-man quickly created a larger web between two pillars ahead of him. Mario barely managed to swoop up at the last second. Pulling a new flower from a pocket (this one blue), his outfit changed again, his shirt and ha turning pale blue while his overalls turned red. He fired what appeared to be a couple of snowballs from his hands, freezing the web solid and allowing him to grab hold of it and break his fall without getting stuck, only to let go and drop to the ground moments before Spider-man used two webs attached to the pillars to fling himself at Mario, shattering through the frozen web.

"Let's-a see…", said Mario, pulling out a large yellow mushroom with red spots and eating it. Within seconds he had grown to around ten times his previous height, towering over Spider-man.

Spider-Man stared blankly up at the gigantic Mario, stunned speechless at the sudden occurrence. After a moment he gulped and meekly whispered to himself "It's like something out of an episode of Power Rangers. And me without a giant robot" 

He leapt toward the now-gigantic Mario, punching him in the face, but Mario didn't even flinch. He dodged Mario's giant fists with ease thanks to his Spider-sense, landing on a nearby pillar and leaping off it before Mario destroyed it. He grabbed a sizable piece of the rubble of another destroyed pillar and threw it at Mario, only to have it crumble on his shoulder leaving no visible harm.

As Mario advanced, Spider-man fired a barrage of small web balls at his face, obscuring his vision. Temporarily blinded, the gigantic Mario tried to wipe the web out of his eyes, clearing his vision but coating his glove in webs. He stomped towards Spider-man, now atop the last intact pillar in the arena…

…and got tangled in the webs the wall-crawler had spread around his feet.

Spider-man fired another web at the giant plumber, but Mario caught the web and swung Spider-man off his pillar with it before slamming him into the ground.

Spider-man struggled back to his feet as Mario tore the webs free, advancing toward him. But before he could attack again, he began to shrink.

The effect of the Mega Mushroom had worn out.

As he shrank, the webs around his legs and hand stayed the same size, covering a greater are of him. By the time he returned to his usual size, the webs had completely bound him

Mario struggled against the webs, but it was no use.

"Mario is unable to continue. The winner is… SPIDER-MAN!"


	5. Round 1 Part 4

_**And here's another chapter out, in less than a month no less! **_

"Any chance of some new scenery on the next round?" said the Trickster as Spider-Man helped Mario over to the spectator stands. "I think the fighter's destroyed it all…"

Looking out over the arena, the Warrior saw the arena was now in somewhat of a sorry state. All the pillars that once lined the arena were smashed apart from one, leaving only smashed pillar fragments and craters as far as scenery was concerned.

"What do you take me for, Trickster?" said Conqueror, pulling a cord hanging among the stand's overhead drapes. Across the arena, sections of the floor rose up, while the rest of the area inside the arena sank down, quickly filling up with water.

"This is new…" said Spyro, watching from the sidelines. "Water hazards? I could've used those…"

"Glad those weren't around during my fight", said Luffy, before all his attention turned to Goku returning to the spectator stands with a near-literal mountain of food to share around.

"How can we be sure the Conqueror didn't set this up with the intention of benefitting his own fighters?" said the Warrior. "After all, he has control of the arena's mechanisms…"

"Because the Trickster set up this tournament using my summoning magic", said the Conjuror, not missing how some of Spider-man's leftover webs from his fight with Mario were left suspended in the gaps. A similarly observant fighter could take advantage of this… "None of us know what order the battles will occur in, he least of all"

"When you are done accusing each other, we have another round to partake in", said the Conqueror

The first to appear was a fat man with a zigzag-shaped black moustache wearing a yellow motorbike helmet and a blue denim jacket. All-in-all, he looked a little like an unflattering charicature of Mario.

Mario groaned. "Wario's in this thing too?"

"Old friend of yours, Mario?" asked Spider-man.

"Not really a friend… rival might-a be the better word"

Wario's opponent, an athletic-looking boy with blond hair and electric blue eyes, appeared shortly after he did. Wario cast an eye over while idly picking his nose. "So who're you supposed to be?"

"Jason Gra…", he began, but Wario cut him off. "That's great kid, now let's-a get this show on the road…"

"Begin!"

No sooner had the command been issued, Wario leapt onto a yellow motorcycle pulled from nowhere, revving the engine. Jason took out a small coin, flipping it. As Wario blasted towards him on the bike, the coin landed in his hand, becoming a huge golden javelin, which he threw, piercing through the bike's engine. As the bike spluttered and rolled ever closer to one of the gaps between platforms, the portly biker leapt off his bike, landing on the other side as the bike fell into the water below.

"You can turn coins into things?" asked Wario. "Wish I had that power – in-a reverse…"

Controlling the air around him, Jason hovered off the ground a little as Wario ran toward him. He easily dodged Wario's attempted shoulder ram and struck back, channelling a little electricity into his hands as he did. Wario was stunned for a moment as the electricity paralysed him, but he recovered faster than Jason expected and punched him in the stomach, sending him flying back and tumbling against the ground.

_He may look out of shape, but this guy's about as strong as a giant,_ thought Jason as he got back on his feet. He dodged to the side quickly to dodge a large piece of rubble Wario had thrown.

As Jason flew close, Wario tried to punch at Jason, but the demigod easily dodged to the side. After several more attempted attacks, each one dodged with ease, Wario jumped back away from his opponent. Wario was strong, yes, but it wouldn't matter if he couldn't hit him.

"You're good, kid, I'll give you that", said Wario. "But I've got one more trick up-a my sleeve… I was kinda planning to save this for someone much later into this tournament, but I guess you'll-a have to do…"

Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a clove of garlic and chuckled. "You're in trouble now".

Devouring the garlic in one swift chomp, Wario was engulfed in a brilliant light. When the light died down, Wario's attire had changed. He was now dressed in a pink full-body outfit decorated with many small, smily-faced cartoon garlics and a large blue "W" on his chest, along with a purple mask and cape with the same "W" on the mask's forehead.

"What the…" began Spyro.

"He's-a transformed into Wario-man!" said Mario.

"Does he think he's some kind of superhero now?" asked Gambit. "He could maybe use a few outfit pointers".

"Yeah, those look more like his pyjamas than a superhero getup", said Spider-man. "Although, given a few people from our world, I guess it could be worse…"

"Laugh all you want", said Mario. "The outfit may be hideous, but his powers in this form are…"

Before Jason could react, Wario was right in front of him. He narrowly dodged Wario's cavernous maw as he attempted to grab the young demigod with his mouth, but Wario grabbed him by the leg before spinning him round in a throw that launched him almost the entire length of the massive arena and slammed him hard against the base of one of the smashed pillars. As Jason struggled back to his feet, Wario was already closing in on him again. Before the moustachioed man could reach him, he fired a powerful stream of lightning at him from his hands. While it slowed Wario down, it didn't seem to do him any real harm.

"Tough luck, kid" said Wario, sparks of electricity dancing around his zigzagged moustache. "Wario-man is invincible!"

Jason quickly caught on to something and flew upward into the air. No longer held back by the lightning, Wario-man ran after him, jumping up onto to broken pillar.

_There's got to be a reason he didn't do this from the start_, thought Jason. _I'm guessing he can't keep this up forever, and from the looks of things, he only brought one piece of garlic…_

Wario leapt off the pillar with tremendous force, almost reaching Jason who narrowly managed to fly higher out of his grasp. Before he began to fall back to Earth, he suddenly spun himself higher into the air, crashing into Jason and knocking him out of the sky. As he fell, he narrowly managed to guide himself away from the hard stone floor of the arena and toward one of the more forgiving watery trenches, but all too late he saw the strands suspended between them. He landed in the webs and became thoroughly tangled.

As Wario landed, another aura of light signalled his time as Wario-Man was up. He walked over to the edge of the water-trench and grinned gloatingly.

"Not so slippery now, are you?!" Wario bragged.

Jason struggled against the web, but his efforts seemed futile. "I am the son of Jupiter!" he cried "I'm not about to be bested by a mere spider web!"

"You've been bested all right!" laughed Wario. "But it's not that weird web that beat you, it was-a me!"

Jason was about to reply but something caught his eye at the bottom of the water. Focussing his power over the wind, a small whirlwind began to form beneath him. As it grew, Wario began to take notice.

You're-a gonna try and fight me with just the wind?" said Wario, thinking how he could knock his opponent out without having to risk those webs. "Dream on, kid!"

Wario was so focussed on the growing whirlwind he almost didn't notice the sky darkening behind him. But he caught on just in time to dodge a huge thunderbolt from the sky.

While Wario was distracted, Jason forced the tornado into the water, right over what was left of Wario's motorbike. As the cyclone sucked in some of the pieces of the wrecked bike, the javelin he had used earlier, now back in its coin form, came just close enough to his hand to grab.

"Thought you'd catch me out with that lightning, huh?" said Wario. "Well I…"

Before he could finish, a wheel from the motorbike landed on Wario's head, knocking him out.

"THE WINNER IS… JASON GRACE!"

"Wonder how that boy's powers compare to Storm's?" said Gambit.

"Yeah, but guessing from that "son of Jupiter" line, I'm guessing we're looking at something else", said Spider-man. "Relative of Herc's maybe? I dunno, he kinda reminds me more of Thor…"

The first challenger to appear was a young boy in a blue jacket and a red and white hat. Perched on his shoulder was a bright yellow rodent-like creature with long black-tipped ears, red circles on its cheeks and a tail in the shape of a lightning bolt.

On the other side stood a huge dark figure covered in armour, holding a long, double-pointed spear or staff in one hand. If there was anything beneath the armour it didn't show; all that could be seen of this shadowy titan was its glowing red eyes.

"This guy seriously doesn't sit well with me", said Spider-man, though it seemed he didn't have to -the aura of dread that this being gave off was such that only Luffy looked unfazed by it.

Taking one of the spyglasses supplied to spectators, Doctor Doom looked over the match. It seemed the spyglasses, as well as allowing the audience to view the distant matches, also provided the names of the combatants. The boy, here labelled as "Ash Ketchum", was of little interest to him. The shadowy figure however…

_Makuta Teridax_, thought Doom. _No doubt this is one I shall have to keep my eye one…_

The Conjuror and Trickster both took note of the Conqueror's agitation which he was clearly trying to hide. Something about this match was clearly flustering him…

"Begin!" the announcer cried.

"Pikachu, use…" began Ash, but before he could finish his sentence, it was clear something was very wrong. Ash looked down at his chest to see blood pooling and two huge silvery blades…

Immediately, the Conqueror rose to his feet, card in hand. "I CALL FOR A MATCH SWAP!" he bellowed.

Trickster gave a laugh. "What good will that do now?" he said…

_Teridax, I command you to heal your former opponent_, said Conqueror telepathically. _If you don't, I will use another card and possess you for the rest of this tournament!_

_Why bother?_ Teridax thought back. _He was so easily disposed of here…_

_Do it!_ commanded the Conqueror.

_As you wish_, thought Teridax mockingly.

All according to plan…

Teridax reached over to Ash's body. Pikachu launched himself at the Makuta in blind rage, but Teridax flung the electric mouse Pokémon aside with his magnetic powers. As he used his regenerative powers on the trainer, no-one saw him slip something into – or out of – his hand…

Ash awoke, the wounds in his chest fully healed (though his shirt still ruined). He looked up at Teridax and scurried further away from him, Pikachu putting himself between Ash and Teridax defensively.

"Consider yourself lucky this time", said Teridax.

_**And now for a few apologies. Apologies if anything's off with our new challengers' characterization (in particular one whose series I am unfamiliar with). It's hard to get a feel for dialogue and such. I hope to be more familiar with this series by the next time this character appears. Apologies to anyone annoyed by the Mario character's written Italian accent OR lack thereof. It's hard to get a good balance so it doesn't seem overbearing yet is still present enough.**_

_**And lastly, for any fans of the Pokemon anime out there... Just... sorry. Hey, at least he made it out of there alive.**_

_**Until next time!**_


	6. Round 1 Part 5

"Looks like that Teridax guy healed him right up", said Spyro as he and several of the others watched as two medics checked up on Ash, finding nothing wrong with him. "I don't get it. Why'd they swap the fight? If Teridax hadn't healed him, Ash would've just lost his other match anyway…"

"More importantly, did ANYONE see any of that?" said Jason. "What's Teridax even capable of? He moved so fast I didn't even see it…"

"I didn't see him move either", said Goku, watching as Teridax took a few seats in the stand Doctor Doom had been previously alone at. "But I've got a pretty good eye for these things. I reckon he's using something like Instant Transmission".

"Instant what now?" said Kuwabara.

"Some kind of teleportation?" said Spider-man. "I mean the name kinda says it all…"

"So are you guys the other challengers?" said Ash as he stepped up into the stands, Pikachu on one shoulder.

"Yeah, that's right", said Kuwabara. "You're lucky your opponent decided to heal you. You were no freakin' match out there"

"Yeah… I kinda assumed since my Pokémon were tough enough, I could get through this like I usually do", said the trainer. "I didn't expect they'd attack me…"

"Not much of a fighter, are you?" said Kuwabara. "Kinda like that other kid, what's his name. Dunno how he won a round 'cause the whole time the other matches were on he just looked worried and kinda sick… "

"Speaking of which, where is he?" asked Spyro. "I don't see him anywhere"

"Hang on, I'll find him" said Goku, putting two fingers to his forehead. "Just got to ask the guys running this thing first….

There was a slight shimmer in the air, then Goku was gone…

"Well wasn't that last fight enlightening?" said the Trickster. "Now we know who two of Conqueror's champions are, and one of them was defeated in seconds. I hope you weren't expecting much from the Ketchum kid, but from the lengths you went to to keep him in the competition…"

"Enough", said the Conqueror bitterly. "Why hasn't the next battle begun yet?"

Before anyone could answer, an orange-clad figure appeared. Before the Conqueror could raise his voice at Goku's intrusion, the Trickster cut in. "Well well well, Son Goku", he said cordially. "What brings you to our spectator's box? Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is something of a private stand…"

"You are here to ask if you can leave the stands during the tournament without disqualification", said the Conjuror, straight to the point.

"Yeah, that's right", said Goku. "I don't want to miss out on the later rounds, but…"

"By all means, feel free to leave your seat", said the Conjuror. "This entire kingdom is at your disposal. You need not fear even for missing your next round – if needs be, we can summon you back here from afar when your match begins. However, you may wish to stay and keep an eye out for any dangerous later opponents..."

"Thanks!" said Goku, before vanishing again.

"You're letting them go wherever they please?!" cried the Conqueror.

"Of course", said the Trickster. "All within the rules we all agreed to. Honestly, it's like you barely read the contract…"

"Give me that contract!" shouted the Conqueror. "I want to see this for mys…"

He stopped as he noticed two glowing orbs appear in the arena. "Hold that thought!" he said as the next two fighters appeared.

On one side of the arena stood a young man in a black and blue outfit and a black mask around his eyes. He was carrying a long pole or staff of some kind with glowing blue bands near either end.

His opponent was a pale man with long black hair and purple lines under his snakelike eyes. He wore a plain white garb tied with a huge purple rope as a belt.

"So this is the highly-touted otherworld tournament that begged my appearance?" said the second fighter. "This arena looks like it's seen better days… And I suppose you must be my first opponent?"

"Yeah, seems that way", said the fighter with the pole. "So who're you supposed to be?"

The snake-eyed man gave a laugh. "I am the immortal Orochimaru…"

"Immortal doesn't mean invincible", said Nightwing. "Bring it on".

"Normally the conflicts of others don't interest me, but the opportunity to see techniques from another world was too good to pass up", said Orochimaru. "Those in your world will never have been born with chakra. Let's see what you're capable of…"

"Begin!"

Nightwing spun his staff above his head before making a move toward Orochimaru, who dodged to the side as he swung the staff down. As Nightwing followed the attack with a wide, sweeping follow-up, Orochimaru leapt back (much further than a normal human could, Nightwing noted), reached down his own throat and retrieved a katana.

"Let's see how you handle this" hissed Orochimaru, moving with inhuman speed toward Nightwing, who blocked the sword with his staff before splitting the weapon into two shorter batons, blocking another swing of the sword with one and delivering a blow to Orochimaru with the other. Electricity crackled around the snake-man as the weapon hit seemingly stunned Orochimaru for a moment, but a split-second later Nightwing was forced into a narrow dodge, leaning back out of range of Orochimaru's blade as the sword cut clean through the electric club and slashed out at him faster than he expected. Flipping back to his feet, Nightwing reached to his belt and activated a device on either side as the arena was filled with smoke and an ear-piercing high-pitched drone.

In the midst of the smoke, Nightwing dashed towards the off-guard Orochimaru, now wearing a new mask equipped with sound filters and infrared vision. He leapt over a blind swing of the ninja's sword and delivered a sound blow to the chest with his remaining electro-baton, paralysing the snake man before a kick knocked him to the ground.

As the blaring sound cut out and the smoke cleared over Nightwing standing above a seemingly unconscious Orochimaru, he couldn't help but feel something was wrong. For a moment, as he had activated the infrared goggles, Orochimaru hadn't appeared…

Then the Orochimaru on the ground began to melt, fading to brown as it did. Nightwing heard a laugh from behind him and looked round to see Orochimaru, unharmed and standing about twenty feet behind him.

"You didn't actually think you had won, did you?" said Orochimaru, forming some kind of symbols with his hands. "Summoning Jutsu"

In a puff of smoke, a huge snake appeared, coiled around Orochimaru himself. A handful of shuriken Nightwing had thrown at Orochimaru stuck halmlessly into its tough skin. As it uncoiled slightly, Orochimaru leapt out high into the air. Nightwing quickly dodged to the side as the sword extended across the battlefield and almost skewered him. As Orochimaru swung the immensely long blade to the side, Nightwing backflipped over it before throwing two more projectiles at him. Orochimaru dodged both easily, only to have them both explode behind him, hurling the rogue ninja to the arena floor. He hit the ground hard before rolling into one of the moats around the arena, his sword clattering to the ground and returning to its usual length.

Before he could investigate the moat, Nightwing's attention was forcefully grabbed by the snake from earlier as it lunged at him. He rolled to the side as it struck, the serpent biting the remains of another pillar instead of the former Boy Wonder. "Too slow", he said, retrieving his throwing weapons from its side as it turned back to him again. As it opened its mouth, however, Nightwing saw something he hadn't been expecting.

Orochimaru emerged from the snake's throat and dived out at Nightwing, who dodged to the side and struck at him with half his staff. Orochimaru twisted round in midair at an angle only possible if he had no bones and thrust his hands out, multitudes of snakes emerging from his sleeves. Nightwing leapt back, over the snake whose mouth Orochimaru had been hiding in, as Orochimaru moved on, slithering like a high-speed snake along the ground.

"You're pretty agile for someone without chakra", said Orochimaru. "But you can't dodge forever"

Nightwing was about to say something in response, but it was drowned out as a gigantic gate emerged from the moat behind him. Water from the moat poured down from around the red spikes that made up its outer walls, while the gate itself was shaped and decorated like a huge demonic face, covered in chains and with two huge bell-like objects hanging on either side. On the roof of this enormous gate stood Orochimaru. The spectator's stand where all the competitors except Teridax and Doom (and now Charlie Brown and Goku) were sitting had its view of the battle completely obscured by the massive structure.

"What's going on? I can't see a thing" said Spyro.

Nightwing took a step toward the massive gate, but he turned in time to block a strike from the Orochimaru from the snake, now back on his feet like a semi-normal person as the two engaged in hand-to-hand close combat (with added snakes). Despite holding the snake Sannin off, Nightwing could tell he was fighting a losing battle. Even without his snakes and abilities, Orochimaru's martial arts skills were comparable to his own, and the ninja's abilities and humanly impossible movements made up for any difference in skill. Plus Nightwing had to divert his attention between the fight in front of him and deflecting shuriken from the second Orochimaru on top of the gate that seemed to multiply in midair…

Gate-Orochimaru sighed. "I've played around here too long", he said. "Let's just wrap things up…"

Before Nightwing could react, the Orochimaru on the ground's neck extended out as the rogue ninja bit into Nightwing's neck. Nightwing broke Orochimaru off him with a chop to the over-lengthened neck before a blade stabbed through him. He looked down to see to katana Orochmaru used earlier in the battle, now glowing blue as it pulled itself out of him and flew up to Orochimaru's hand.

"THE WINNER IS… OROCHIMARU!"

The gigantic gate vanished as Orochimaru dropped to the ground from it, his clone dissolving into mud like the last one. He walked over to Nightwing's body.

"You could be useful later", he said, retrieving a scroll and unrolling it. Nighwing's body vanished in a puff of smoke.

"He… he just…" began Ash, stunned by what he had just seen. Most of the onlookers were speechless.

Not everyone was still though. As Spider-man, Luffy, Spyro, Gambit, Jason and Mario leapt to their feet, the Conqueror sighed and snapped his fingers. The air in front of the box flickered, as though an invisible wall was being revealed for the first time.

_All participants are reminded that attacking other remaining participants of the tournament outside of official matches, unless in self-defence, will result in immediate disqualification, _said the Conqueror's voice in all of their heads.

"Seriously?" said Spider-man. "We can't even step in to save someone who's about to be killed?"

"_Not unless their match is already over, and then only through non-aggressive means_, added the Conjuror's voice.

Suddenly two figures appeared in the stands – Goku and Charlie Brown

"Hey guys, what's up?" said Goku.

"The guy in the last round just now killed the guy he was fighting, and now he's done something to his body", said Spider-man

"K-killed him?" said Charlie Brown.

"Good thing I'm here then", said Goku. "Me and Charlie Brown here just agreed that if anyone died in the tournament, I'd use the Dragon Balls from my world to bring everyone who died here back to life…"

There was a moment's silence before everyone suddenly spoke as one. "WHAT?!"

As the people in the box opposite bombarded the Saiyan with questions, Doctor Doom and Makuta Teridax considered Orochimaru and whether he would be a potential problem further into the tournament – or whether they could potentially come to some kind of agreement…

"I guess if you can bring anyone who died back after the tournament, we wouldn't have to worry as much", said Kuwabara, though he sounded somewhat suspicious. "Sure as hell isn't that easy in our world…"

_Bring back everyone who died?_ said a voice in Kuwabara's head. _Maybe I would need more than a Death Note… And he said "wish"… What exactly are these "Dragon Balls" capable of? _

"Shut up, you!" shouted Kuwabara, earning him a lot of confused looks.

"BEGIN!" shouted a voice from behind them.

They all looked round to see that the next fight had already started. A teenage boy in a t-shirt, jeans and a sleeveless jacket with a strange-looking gauntlet on each hand was only narrowly dodging out of the way of a spear, aggressively wielded by a young woman in a red full-face mask distinguished by only three round holes roughly resembling a mouth and eyes, a white furry cape of some kind and ragged clothes. The boy seemed to be trying to do something with his gauntlets, but he couldn't find an opening against the girl's relentless assault.

"Who are those two?" asked Spyro.

"According to these spyglass things, these are… Raiden Pierce-Okamoto and… San?" said Spider-man, focussing in on the two. "Huh, no surname"

"It probably just tells you whatever name the person would give for themselves or something", said Jason, peering at Spider-man through another spyglass. "It's just showing "Spider-man" for you…"

"That's a relief", said Spider-man. "So long as it's not giving out my real name or anything. I have a hard enough time keeping that secret in my own world, let alone in another one with magic mini-telescopes".

From above, he Conjuror and Warrior watched the battle before them attentively as the Conqueror took the odd glance as he skim-read the Game contract again. The Trickster, however, was more focussed on the fighters in the stands as he pondered the implications of an intriguing loophole he had semi-intentionally written into the Game's rule.

In the stands below, Orochimaru and the Green Goblin both watched as Raiden tried to put some distance between himself and San, to no avail, while considering the same loophole, heard only a few minutes ago.

_How very interesting_, thought Orochimaru.


End file.
